Change the Owner

If you have gone through the new birth that the Bible talks about, then you have changed ownership!

The Bible tells us that right after this new birth God becomes our Lord. In fact, it is not uncommon at all to hear many Christians use the word "Lord" almost as a comma in their prayers. These same people also use the word Lord in their conversations to define God.

But few of them know what the word Lord means.

In the English language, when a house is rented, the owner is called the landlord.

Landlord is a combination of two words: Land and Lord.

Land means land, and Lord means the owner.

The Greek original word Lord in the bible is owner.

You are probably beginning to make the connection now. Yes, you have guessed it, the word lord means the owner of my person.

That is to say, every time you say the word Lord in your prayers or in your speech, you are proclaiming that God is your owner.

Yes, God has become the owner of your life since your new birth.

You are also beginning to understand now why the Bible says that God is our lord, our owner. These few examples of passages below show us that God and even Jesus are our Lord, our owner.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 10:9 … if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Ephesians 3:11 … according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Philippians 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ,

John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

But we could ask ourselves "owner of what?"

In this short teaching I will briefly explain why you have changed ownership, why since your new birth you have chosen not to belong to yourself, with all that this implies.

The apostle Paul sums up very well what has happened since we were born again, and this "change of ownership".

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

It is common to hear these passages in Christian circles. However, in my experience, I can count on the fingers of two hands the brothers and sisters I know who live these passages naturally in their everyday lives.

Yet we have changed ownership, we no longer belong to ourselves. This has many consequences, such as removing pride, shyness, ego, anger, resentment, offence, victimisation, and many other things that come from our flesh and are not part of God's nature. But then some may say to me that if the owner of their person has changed, well, they don't see the fruits!

Yes, this is very true, and it is the case for a large majority of Christians. Today, in most local churches around the world, we are taught a gospel that primarily serves our benefit. Depending on the country, the focus may be different, but the common thread is that the teaching is primarily about how the gospel is there to improve my life.

Yes, it is a certainty that the Gospel will greatly improve our lives, if we apply it in the right way. But that is far from its primary purpose.

When a person goes through the new birth, the Bible says that they must first die.

Romans 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death …

The apostle Paul confirms this here, saying that we have been buried with Christ. That is to say, anyone who goes through the new birth begins by deciding to give up his life. He exchanges his life with that of Jesus. This is when we receive a seed, a seed within us.

1 John 3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

In this passage the word translated as seed is in Greek: SPERMA. This word gives the notion of a living and active seed producing fruit. This word is also used in the Bible to refer to plant seeds, animal or even human reproduction.

When a person accepts to exchange his life for that of Jesus through the new birth, he will receive this living and active seed which corresponds to the life of Jesus.

This is why, as we said above, the same apostle Paul also declared:

Paul had understood and above all decided to exchange his life with that of Jesus. He had consciously and voluntarily changed owners!

Jesus Christ had become the owner of Paul's person.

If you have been born again you have made the commitment to exchange your life for Jesus', to exchange your nature for His. This is the content of the offer Jesus made to us at the cross. The terms of the contract are: "I take your life, and you take mine". Whether I am aware of it or not, these are the terms I have accepted in order to go through the new birth.

Faced with this truth we might ask: "If I am dead and Jesus is the new owner of my person, then why don't I see much change in my person? Does this mean that I no longer exist? Am I really born again?"

These are very important questions.

Here we enter into the heart of the Gospel.

When we die, it is not of course our being that dies, for obviously no one has lost his or her life by going through the new birth.

Before our new birth our spirit is spiritually dead, suffocated by our soul, which, along with our body, is dominated by sin. That is why at the time of the new birth and when God becomes by my decision the owner of my person, my spirit is restored to life and enters into a communication, a relationship with God. This is a direct effect of the living and active seed that I have received within me.

From that moment on I am born again, saved.

But there is another step that must be taken straight away. Jesus must become the owner of my person in a very practical way. And this is often the problem. Jesus must also become the owner of my body and soul.

In order for the life of Jesus to become active in me, I must make a firm decision to do so. This is why we can see many Christians who have accepted to change their owner, but who refuse to let him take over, for various reasons. Some don't know, because nobody has told them, and they don't read the Bible. Others know it but refuse to enter into a personal transformation into the image of God, often because they have a problem of pride, of selfishness.

The Bible calls this transformation: dying to self.

This death to self can only be activated by a firm decision on my part.

Why doesn't Jesus take control of my life?

No, He will never do it without your express consent!

Now you understand why you may not see much change in yourself, why you still see the same flaws, the same bad attitudes, the same bad thoughts... The same inner struggles. Chances are, you probably haven't decided to let the new owner of your person activate His nature in you.

Yet if you think about it, how often do you use the word Lord in your language?

Probably very often!

Maybe it's time to make that decision, and not make your salvation just a passport to eternity.

You will never be able to experience the full power of the Gospel if you do not decide to let the new owner activate His nature in you.

It is impossible to have two people deciding at the same time in an individual. That is why every time you decide to do things your way, God steps back and leaves you to your choices and their consequences.

The worst part is that in most cases, people are not aware that they are not letting God's nature work in them. They are sure that their way is the right way. To be sure, look objectively at the results of your decisions, of your priorities.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to be much more objective about yourself, because the vast majority of people are not. Make every effort to be honest about the nature of your thoughts, attitudes and words. In this way you will be able to see what is not in line with what Jesus taught and is just waiting to be activated in you. If you need more information on this subject, do not hesitate to contact TRGN by email, we will be happy to help you.

Millions of Christians are saved without having made Jesus the owner of their person. They live only bits and pieces of what God has planned for them. As a result they think that the Gospel is not that powerful, that it does not give them peace, joy as they read in the Bible.

Humility is the mandatory requirement to get to that stage where Jesus really becomes the owner of my person. This is why God says that He cannot give to the proud, but only to the humble (James 4:6). It is not that God does not wish to bless those who are proud. It is just that if you are not in deep humility, you will never be able to understand what God has already put in you. You will not be able to activate the power of the fruit of the Spirit in you (Galatians 5:22-23). Humility is the condition for receiving.

Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

It is very interesting to see here how Paul makes a direct link with humility and faith. Without humility I cannot activate the faith that is already in me, and without faith I cannot receive anything.

If you ask 100 born again people if they think they are humble in general, more than 2/3 will say yes. Yet less than 10% of Christians live the Gospel powerfully, in a personal transformation linked to humility, becoming more and more like God.

Pride and haughtiness have a way of hiding and very often going unnoticed. We often tend to think that pride is only manifested in ostentatious attitudes. Pride simply comes from being too self-focused. You can show too much focus on yourself in anger, but also in shyness, in being extroverted, as well as in being introverted.

This shows us that everyone is concerned and needs to work on this personal transformation in order to really change their owner.

Bye for now...